Gullwing takes top honors at Euro Auto Festival

The spotlight was on Jaguar E-types and the Austin-Healey Sprite/MG Midget twins, but it was a Mercedes-Benz that put an exclamation point on this year’s Euro Auto Festival this past weekend. A 1955 300SL Coupe, owned by Mark and Sheila Richey of Commerce, Georgia, took the People’s Choice award at the show, held on the grounds of the BMW Zentrum in Greer, South Carolina.

The Euro Auto Festival is an unjudged show, with awards determined by the votes of the entrants. “I was surprised [by the People’s Choice award], because there were a lot of really nice cars there,” Mark said. The SL also won but Best Fit & Finish among all entries, and Crowd Pleaser among the Mercedes-Benzes.

Mark had been longing for a Gullwing for 40 years when he bought this car about a year ago, selling the 300SL Roadster he had owned for a decade in the process. It was the just the tenth Gullwing produced – production would total 1,400 – and Mark pointed out that there are several differences between his car and later cars. Among those are the use of all-steel wheels from a 300S “Adenauer” sedan, rather than steel-and-magnesium wheels; a “gooseneck” shift lever; a radiator from a W194 300SL racer, the road car’s predecessor; Bendix brakes, rather than Ate; a special one-piece, concave grille; and the lack of a cover for the fuel pump.

Mark has been trying to learn more about his car’s history, and so far has had no luck. “I would imagine somebody important or famous had it, being so early,” he said. He noted that car number three went to Briggs Cunningham. Mark is intrigued by a photograph of Zsa Zsa Gabor and Dominican diplomat and jet-setter Porfirio Rubirosa sitting in a Gullwing; it was taken in October 1954, by which time only 17 or 18 Gullwings had been delivered. It’s believed that Gabor owned a 300SL; could it have been this one?

Organizers had been set themselves an ambitious goal of getting an even 50 E-types on the lawn to celebrate the model’s 50th anniversary, and although we don’t have an exact count, we know there were more than 40 present. Chosen as the best of them was this gorgeous 1961 example, owned by James Strickland of Marietta, Georgia.

It was the sixth left-hand-drive E-type production car to leave the factory, and is the second-oldest such car known to exist. Finished in Opalescent Bronze with a special-order Suede Green interior, it was the West Coast dealers’ 1961 show car. According to James, Frank Sinatra left in a huff when the dealer refused to sell him the car, as it was the West Coast dealers’ only demonstrator. Recently restored by Mark Lovello at Jaguar South, the car was judged first in its class at the Fairfield County Concours, and also received a special award as the oldest E-type on the showfield.

We’d never forgive ourselves if we didn’t mention Zach and Libby Merrill’s wonderful 1955 Morris Minor Traveller. There’s very little on the exterior, other than the “Twin-Cam” badges on the hood and the widened MGB wheels, to tip you off about the long list of modifications that have been made. Here’s a partial list: A Toyota 4AGE 1.6-liter twin-cam four; a Toyota T-51 five-speed gearbox; a Toyota 7.5-inch differential; four-wheel disc brakes with vacuum assist from a Toyota Corolla GTS; air conditioning; cruise control; an AM-FM CD player; high-pressure KYB gas shocks all around. Most impressively, there wasn’t a badge that wouldn’t have belonged on the car. The engine and other mechanical components wear Morris and Speedwell badging, while the modern electrical components have convincing Lucas badges.

“Hopefully, this car appears to be a well-restored Twin-Cam ‘Works’ version as might have been crafted in BMC’s in-house ‘Special Tuning’ shop… although British Motor Corporation never actually did such a thing with their 1955 Traveller,” a placard on the car explained. The other entrants got it: the Minor won Crowd Pleaser in the Mini class.

john from Staffssays:

October 21, 2011 2:42 pm

Larry youngsays:

October 21, 2011 3:20 pm

Honest Earlsays:

October 21, 2011 4:11 pm

All such beautiful cars! The Morris is a cute/beautiful little car. A friend of mine had a 2dr sedan years ago and it was fun to drive, got good gas mileage and trouble free, he loved it. After owning a ’48 Hudson and a ’53 Olds, the new Morris was a revelation! Of course it was bone stock and Sam left it that way.

geomechssays:

October 21, 2011 11:22 pm

Well the Gullwing first got my attention! One first rate machine!
Then there’s the Morris. The Morris has its place just like the Mercedes but I’m afraid that the owner (of the Morris) struck out completely when he switched out the powertrain. I can’t understand why someone would go to all that time and expense to restore a relatively rare car to concours condition then screw it up with a different powertrain. What value that could’ve been is suddenly lost forever…

Ted(AustinMiniMan)says:

October 23, 2011 4:24 pm

A mildly contentious question: Why did the Minor win first place in the Mini category? Last time I checked, a Morris Minor is not a Mini. Sure, maybe I’m a little bitter, as I was there with my truck, but that seemed like an odd choice by the judges.

Dave LaChancesays:

October 25, 2011 10:23 am

@JC — The organizers have just announced that the 17th annual Euro Auto Festival will take place on October 20, 2012, with Mercedes-Benz as the featured marque. I haven’t seen attendance figures for spectators, who are admitted free of charge, but I believe the cutoff for cars for the show field was 400. More details are at http://euroautofestival.com/.